School board files complaint against Milford Education Association

MILFORD  Claiming the Milford Education Association failed "to bargain in good faith," the Board of Education Tuesday filed a complaint against the union with the state Board of Labor Relations.

Manuela Da Costa-Fernandes

Published
12:00 am EDT, Thursday, October 16, 2003

Last week, the 650-member union rejected a school boards proposal that would have raised the salaries of 31 head coaches by up to 60 percent.

"Its fairly unusual for the board to file a charge against the union," said school board attorney Floyd Dugas, adding it was the first time he has filed such a complaint for the district.

Dugas, who represents dozens of other schools, however, has filed similar complaints for other districts.

MEA President Barbara Santa Barbara appeared taken aback by the boards move.

The union "simply requests the BOE to show us a written proposal to increase salaries for all stipend positions, coaches, assistant coaches and academic positions (that) have been grossly underfunded for years," she said.

Within about 30 days, the state labor board will investigate the complaint and recommend a hearing or recommend dismissal, Dugas said.

According to the complaint, the union and board have an arbitration award and collective bargaining agreement for Sept. 1, 2001, to Aug. 31, 2005. During the contracts term, a study was conducted of the districts athletic programs. One of the findings was that district coaches salaries lag behind those in surrounding and comparable communities, the complaint says.

Following the study, Superintendent of Schools Gregory A. Firn lobbied for additional money for all coaching positions for the 2003-2004 budget, but he only received funding to increase head coaches salaries for that year.

The proposal, for example, would have provided head football coaches at Joseph A. Foran and Jonathan Law high schools with a stipend increase from $4,500 a year, to $6,000.

Other coaches would have seen stipends rise from $3,644 a year, to $5,100.

"His goal was to obtain additional funding in the 2004-2005 budget to subsequently raise assistant coach salaries as well," the boards complaint says.

In late August, the board presented a final offer to the union to increase head coaches salaries. That week, union negotiator James OBrien contacted Dugas and said the MEA had accepted the boards proposal, the boards complaint claims.

On Sept. 20, the board and union began mediation, which was unsuccessful and resulted in arbitration. The first hearing was held Oct. 5.

"At no time did the respondent indicate a problem existed with the head coach salary agreement," the complaint says.

The next day, however, the MEA issued a press released saying its executive committee had rejected the agreement.

In a prepared statement, Firn expressed disappointment that the union rejected the boards proposal.

"An unconditional acceptance of the proposal was communicated by the MEAs chief negotiator," he said.